HWB Team Lands in Haiti

Coming from different parts of the country, our group of four gathers at Gate 24 in the Miami Airport for the flight to Port-au-Prince. The ninety-minute flight ends with announcements in English and French, and we make our way through immigration. We are met by a representative from the guest house who is locating all of the scheduled guests, and we look through the piled bags and a sea of people to collect our luggage and supplies that we have brought for the clinic. Once out of the airport, we run the friendly gauntlet of red-shirted men who all want to take our bags and drive us to our destination. We keep a firm grip on our bags, walk quickly following our escort and meet with the driver from the guest house to snug seven of us into a small van with all our luggage. The guest houses are interesting, because there are so many projects that people are working on, and they come from such diverse places! The one that hosts us is in the Delmas 19 area of Port-au-Prince, and boasts the luxury of an attached bathroom in our dorm-style room. The shower may be cold water and the bathroom shared with another attached room, but it is in the same building and not down the hall! Our fellow guests this trip are involved in projects for water purification and building schools for children in rural areas.

After we settle in, Holly calls an orientation/planning meeting, going over the schedule for the week, answering questions and assigning tasks. Our volunteers from San Diego, CA, Ruja Nothaft and Rami Makkar, will be inventorying the dispensary, adding in the newly donated remedies. Two days of class and four days of clinic in various locations lie ahead. I am looking forward to seeing the students, hearing how they have been doing in their case work and talking with the translator about happenings in Haiti. Tomorrow we can expect to get an early start with the roosters waking us before 6 a.m.~ Karen Allen, CCH, Education Coordinator, Homeopaths Without Borders